All posts tagged ‘Super Bowl’

My daughter is six. She hasn’t watched a fraction of the football I had by her age. I was raised in an era where Neil Lomax and Steve Largent were my secret crushes. The game has changed (and sex sells more than ever) but it is still apparently a learning experience for my daughter — even if I don’t want her exposed to some of the issues she is asking about.

1. The Jeep: USO commercial: Now that she’s reading, she reads everything. She wanted to know what USO stands for at the end of the Jeep:USO commercial. We found out it stands for United Service Organizations. As an added bonus we were able to find a video of Patty Andrews, who recently passed away, and was a member of the Andrews Sisters World War II USO entertainment group.

Two teams, different colored helmets, different styles of play, both want to win. Roll the dice … I dare you … and then blow up the High Elf receiver and down a frosty Bloodweiser. That’s how it rolls in Blood Bowl — putting the “Fantasy” in Fantasy Football.

Blood Bowl is a miniatures board game set in a decidedly silly version of the Warhammer world, with digital versions available on PC and Xbox 360. The play and scoring has its roots in American football, but when it comes to the rules, you can really get medieval.

Drive your opponent into the turf with your Ogre’s mighty blows, leap over their carefully constructed defense with your Wood Elf Wardancer, or have your loony Goblin pull out his chainsaw and buzz through the other team’s most valuable player — and then bribe the ref to get away with such blatant cheating!

So, if your favorite team didn’t make it into the big game today, or you just don’t “do” football, it might be time to pick up Blood Bowl. There are also alternate miniatures available, or you can drag out some little Lego miniatures, Squinkies, or other little guys.

Of course, if you’re not into the physical aspect, you can dip your toe in by listening to a podcast for beginning Blood Bowl players, or just pick up the game from Amazon and take out your fantasy aggression in a true brawl.

**Thank you to my husband and RainDog for their input and support for this article**

If you are a Star Trek fan like me, you may be counting down the days until Star Trek: Into Darkness is released in May. With a new app from Paramount, you can get all of your Star Trek movie news in one place, as well as being able to unlock special content.

Using technology from Qualcomm Incorporated, the Star Trek app will allow fans to unlock content by performing missions. The only mission I’ve completed was playing the teaser trailer on my computer. The app was able to hear the trailer and about a minute into it, the app told me my mission was complete. Some of other missions that are available now include scanning different pictures from the Star Trek article in Empire magazine or visiting the future site of Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.

In short, it’s very much about publicity for the movie.

Once you complete a mission, you are given points. You can use the points to enter sweepstakes and win prizes. There is supposed to be a surprise that will be unlocked on the app during the 2nd quarter of the Super Bowl. In addition to the missions, there is a section where you can read the latest news about Star Trek: Into Darkness.

The app was very easy to use and I hope to see more content as it gets closer to May. The Star Trek app is free and it is available for iPhone and Android.

Whether you care about the Big Game this weekend or not, you’ve got to appreciate the work that went into this massive Lego replica of Lucas Oil Stadium. Its creator, a mechanical engineer named Brian Alano, started building the stadium about the same time they were breaking ground on the full- sized model, three years ago.